Foes attack David Dewhurst in Senate debate

Apparently viewing him as the guy to beat, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst‘s GOP primary opponents aimed their barbs at him Thursday night in the U.S. Senate campaign’s first debate featuring all the candidates.

They all preached a consistent message of conservative values to a friendly audience during the debate, co-sponsored by the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Empower Texans.

Dewhurst, a multimillionaire and the race’s only candidate who has been elected to statewide office, hasn’t attended previous candidate forums.

With a huge advantage in name recognition, he might not have wanted to help elevate the standing of lesser-known, smaller-funded opponents.

One of them, former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, went at Dewhurst in his opening statement and never passed an opportunity to take a jab.

The Cruz campaign says Dewhurst has attended only two of 19 candidate forums, and neither of those allowed back-and-forth exchanges.

“He has missed a total of 19 debates that we have had so far,” Cruz told the audience in introductory remarks — before Dewhurst stepped toward him for a handshake. The audience laughed.

The Republican primary is scheduled for April 3, but the date could change again because of the uncertainly over redistricting litigation. A court battle already has forced the state’s political parties to move their primaries from March to April, and another delay to late spring or early summer appears possible.

Cruz is backed by the Senate’s most conservative members and has drawn attention from conservative media as a rising star.

The candidates all conveyed their disdain for President Barack Obama and pledged to support repealing the national health care bill he pushed through Congress.

Cruz said he “would throw my body in front of a train to stop anything short of that.”

All the candidates also supported an audit of the Federal Reserve, opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants, and embraced the standard GOP principles of lower taxes, less spending and fewer regulations.

But Cruz cast himself as the strongest leader of the group — a claim Dewhurst disputed, reminding the audience that he is the only candidate who has helped cut billions of dollars in spending.

Cruz jabbed Dewhurst by suggesting that lobbyists feel obligated to contribute to his campaign, and he accused Dewhurst of supporting in-state tuition for illegal immigrants and for helping defeat a “sanctuaries cities” bill last year aimed at illegal immigrants.

Dewhurst told the audience he always has opposed amnesty.

“If they want to be a citizen they need to go home and apply, and I passed sanctuary cities. I didn’t kill it,” Dewhurst said.

The bill was passed by the Texas Senate, which Dewhurst leads as lieutenant governor, but failed in the House.

The candidates’ tough stand on illegal immigration seemed to please the audience, which included only a few minority faces.

All the candidates except Addison supported some version of a flat tax.

Addison, who often waved a copy of the U.S. Constitution, said he would scrap the income tax but couldn’t embrace a flat tax, which the country’s founding document did not mention.

He revved up the crowd when he called for the Environmental Protection Agency and about 10 other federal agencies to be abolished and cast “Communist China” as a country run by “evil, scheming leaders who are stealing our jobs, stealing our intellectual property.”

Leppert, the former Dallas mayor, billed himself as a business leader and more qualified to represent Texans than “career politicians.”

James pushed “God, family and the Constitution” and promised “to rock the boat.”

Five Democrats are running in their party’s primary. The only candidate with prior political experience is former state Rep. Paul Sadler of Henderson.